Sub-Junior Girls National Football Championship: Jharkhand, Arunachal Set Up Final with Contrasting Wins

Cuttack: Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh won their Sub-Junior Girls National Football Championship semifinals against Bihar and Gujarat, respectively, at the Barabati Stadium on Tuesday to set up the final against each other.

While Jharkhand came back from two goals down to beat Bihar on penalties, Arunachal Pradesh produced a dominant display against Gujarat to make their way to the final.

It was a close start to the game as Jharkhand looked to take the early initiative passing it around. However, Bihar took the lead against the run of play when Lucky Kumari broke free on the counter and plonked it over the keeper's head.

They soon doubled that lead, when captain Pallavi Kumari tapped a square pass across the face of the goal into the net. However, Jharkhand took just a minute to pull one back with Soni Munda running on to a low cross to put it past the Bihar keeper.

Bihar captain Pallavi, however, ensured that her side headed into the tunnel with a two-goal lead at half time, as she nodded in a cross in the third minute of added time before the first half whistle.

Jharkhand came back hard at Bihar in the second half but bore the fruits only in the last couple of minutes of regulation time. Captain Salina Kumari pulled one back, before Soni Munda scored her second to level the scores at 3-3.

With the scores level even after extra time, Jharkhand went on to win it on penalties, as Sindhu Kumari and Sabara Khatun missed two early penalties to put Bihar on the back foot. Sonam Kumari also missed the fourth penalty for Jharkhand but Modita Kujur converted their fifth to take them through.

ARUNACHAL DOMINATES GUJARAT

The North-eastern side got off the blocks early on, as Ana rounded off Gujarat goalkeeper Ankitaben Prajapati Thakor, before firing it into the net in the sixth minute.

Arunachal doubled their lead just before the water-break, when captain Simran Zeeba struck a long-range free-kick that sailed over the Gujarat keeper and into the net.

Gujarat did come out with more initiative in the second half, but they soon ran out of steam, and Arunachal capitalised on that, as Ana netted her second from a goalmouth melee.

The Arunachal striker put the proverbial cherry on top of the cake, when she dribbled past the Gujarat defence in the 80th minute and slotted it past the keeper to make it four.

Arunachal are now set to square-off against Jharkhand in the final on Thursday at the Barabati Stadium, in Cuttack. The match will kick-off at 03:30PM IST.